


The Other Half Of Me

by Inkonherhands



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Singer AU, Soulmate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 06:30:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6943606
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Inkonherhands/pseuds/Inkonherhands
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What do you do when you find your soulmate, and hate their guts? Or worse, what do you do when you realise, actually, you don't?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Other Half Of Me

**Author's Note:**

> So there are two videos of Andy Mientus (AKA Hartley Rathaway on the Flash) singing the most soulmate-AU-esque songs in the world, and I felt like it was an opportunity too good to waste. Written in a bit of a rush so excuse errors. 
> 
> For another, better video of the harmoniser that Hartley uses, see this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exZRrNHiHVo (skip to 1:00)

Hartley and Cisco realise they’re soulmates by accident. 

Their desks are next to each other in STAR labs, the layout of their workstations meaning that they work back to back, facing away from each other and trading insults as easily as Cisco once traded pokemon cards. One morning, after Hartley criticises his work for the 5th time that day (it’s only 10am, for god’s _**sake**_ ), Cisco snaps, turning and slamming a hand on Hartley’s shoulder in order to spin the other man to face him. 

Except that doesn’t happen, and it isn’t until several moments later that Cisco collects himself, leaning heavily against his workstation for support and staring into Hartley’s equally shocked eyes. The force of emotion, of the feeling that can only be described as two tectonic plates suddenly snapping into place with each other, has left both men physically reeling, chests heaving as their bodies adapt to the change. 

Cisco is furious. 

“One person” he seethes later to Caitlin, having conveyed the same fury directly to Hartley’s face earlier. “I get bonded to one person in the entire world and it turns out to be him. I mean what the hell Caitlin? What the **_fuck_**?!”

He doesn’t swear often, so the curse has Caitlin looking up at him with concerned eyes. 

“I mean, people do reject their soulmates sometimes, Cisco... the universe decides the person by nature but sometimes nurture can complicate things, change people. Even our soulmate isn’t always who we need them to be.”

Cisco collapses into a chair, putting his face in his hands, and Caitlin’s look changes to one of pity. Her match to Ronnie had been so effortless and perfect; she can’t imagine how this feels.

“Is that what you want, Cisco? To reject the tie? I can’t say it’ll be easy, but-”

“No, I...” Cisco cuts her off, sighing and looking up. “I don’t want to reject it. Him. It’s just... not what I expected.”

Caitlin nods understandingly, as Cisco considers his options.

Later that night, on his own in his small apartment, he starts to feel worse. Cisco really, _really_ didn’t want to reject the bond. That lead to a life so lonely and bleak it made him ache even thinking about it, and lord knows what his family would say. 

Plus, he didn’t want to reject Hartley because of... Well, because of Hartley himself. The more Cisco thinks about it the more he feels like his reaction earlier had been one of shock and confusion, words spoken in anger and not really meant. The image of Hartley’s shocked face flashes in front of his eyes; a moment of genuine hurt covered almost instantly by his trademark sneer, a witty retort thrown in Cisco’s face as the physicist had stormed out of the lab. Cisco bites his lip. Tomorrow, he’d fix this. He’d make it ok.

Except Hartley doesn’t come to work the next day. Every hour that his smug face didn’t appear through the door adds to Cisco’s steadily building feeling of guilt, and his urgent need to make things right with his soulmate, and he goes home at the end of the day feeling sick with worry. The day after, when Cisco arrives to the news that Hartley had come in first thing and taken his laptop, saying he’d work from home for a few days, the young scientist considers turning around and walking out there and then. He doesn’t, because being in the lab and having something to do is better than sitting at home moping, but the sentiment is there.

A week later, Barry takes Cisco to a bar outside of their usual part of town, saying he’d been there with Iris once or twice when they were students and that the live music was really good. 

He later swears that he had no clue who was performing that night. Cisco doesn’t believe him.

Because when they walk up to the bar and get a full view of the stage, Cisco’s jaw drops.

(<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYlaqqTJH_U>)

Hartley is adjusting his mic, and Cisco barely has time to gape in pure shock before the band strikes up behind him, and he’s... holy shit. Hartley Rathaway is _dancing._ And when the lights go down on stage except for one yellow spotlight on Hartley, bathing his head and shoulders in a golden glow like a halo, Cisco has to fumble for a seat at the bar and sit down before he falls because... well, Hartley looks good. Really good. Dressed in a leather jacket that Cisco’s never seen before and his hair a tousled mess, he looks so different from the person Cisco thought he knew. Not to mention the fact that he’s here, on a stage in a bar, singing a song that Cisco overhears some girls behind him say that he wrote himself. _Fuck._

He hasn’t spotted Cisco (and when he turns to look for Barry the speedster is gone, the freaking _liar_ ), and Cisco would very much like to keep it that way, ducking behind someone else at the bar but keeping his eyes fixed on Hartley, who has started to sing. He’s clearly a little drunk, slurring ever so slightly, but he’s _good,_ a smile that Cisco has never seen before playing on his lips as he croons into the mic. He’s fiddling with some sort of panel attached to his mic stand, and Cisco’s been so caught up in surprise that he’s forgotten to listen to the lyrics, until Hartley gets to the chorus. And Cisco’s pretty sure his heart stops.

_Don't act like it's a bad thing to fall in love with me_   
_You might look around and find that your dreams come true with me_

The lyrics aren’t the only thing that has him frozen to his seat because holy shit it’s a song about him; the panel on Hartley’s mic stand is clearly some sort of voice changer, because suddenly his voice is multiplied; a synth-y, electronic set of harmonies flowing through the speakers in sync with his voice, like there are three of him, and Cisco has to make a conscious effort to keep his jaw from dropping open _again_ because if there was one thing he would never have expected Hartley Rathaway to like, it was autotune pop. 

Hartley’s at the end of the chorus now, and the faces he’s making are downright _sinful,_ eyes closed as he rolls his shoulders from side to side on the long notes, clearly really enjoying himself, and Cisco finds himself in the alarming position of being jealous of a piece of equipment as Hartley’s lips press softly against the microphone. 

 _Now how about I'd be the last voice you hear tonight?_  
_And every other night for the rest of the nights that there are_  
_Every morning I just wanna see you staring back at me_  
_'Cause I know that's a good place to start_

He smiles at the last line of the verse, and Cisco downright _melts_. If he had any doubts about being attracted to his soulmate, they’re completely wiped from his mind. He can’t take his eyes off the stage. 

By the time Hartley finishes (to rapturous applause), Cisco has managed to get himself under control enough to order a drink, and slow his heartbeat down to a more human level than the Barry-esque speeds he’s pretty sure it was racing at before. He’s even managed to stop staring at Hartley, carefully considering the beer inside his glass instead. Even so he knows exactly what has happened when he hears Hartley stutter in surprise while thanking the audience, his smooth patter breaking for just a moment, just long enough that Cisco knows he’s been spotted. He takes a breath, waiting, not looking up. This is what he wanted, after all, a chance to talk to Hartley. He’d just expected it to take place in the clean cut, cold cortex of STAR labs with the equally clean cut, cold version of Hartley he thought he knew. 

He doesn’t look up when he hears someone slide into the seat next to him. He knows who it is, anyway. He can feel it in his soul.

“So... how much of that did you hear?” Hartley asks, and Cisco is amazed at the hesitancy in his voice. He swallows. 

“All of it” he mumbles, and Hartley lets out a soft sigh. 

“Ah.”

“Listen, Hartley-” Cisco starts, finally looking up, but Hartley cuts him off with a grimace, holding his hand out. 

“I don’t want to hear it” he snaps, all traces of the strange newfound happiness that Cisco had seen onstage gone from his face and the dark scowl he knew so well having returned. 

“I get it, I’m not exactly your prince charming and I don’t want to be. You made your sentiments very clear the other day and believe me, they’re mutual.”

Cisco grips his glass tighter. “They didn’t sound very mutual.” 

If looks could kill, he’d be a smoking pile of ashes on the floor right now. Hartley not only looks more furious than Cisco’s ever seen him, eyes wide and dark, but he’s also gone bright red, the blush spreading from beneath the collar of his leather jacket to the roots of his hair. 

“You were not supposed to hear that.” Hartley says very slowly, his jaw clenched. “If you think I wrote a song about you like some lovesick teenage girl then you’re wrong-”

“Really? Cause it sure as hell sounded like it was about me” Cisco snaps, his heart beating faster with anger again because here’s the Hartley he knows, the one who gets under his skin and can’t admit to any kind of human emotion, the one who pretends to have no weaknesses, the one who clams up and shuts everyone out the second things start to get hard. 

Hartley snaps his mouth shut, eyes blazing. Cisco waits for the break, waits for Hartley to start shouting in his face, making a scene. What he actually does is much worse. 

“And what if it was?” he bites out, his voice low and quiet and so, so much worse than a shout. Cisco freezes.

“What if it was because of you, because what if I’ve been waiting my whole life for someone to actually give a damn about me and the one person who the universe says is supposed to, the one person the universe says _has_ to, not only doesn’t care, but actively hates me to the point of _repulsion.”_ He spits the last word, practically shaking with anger, and Cisco feels his mouth go completely dry because this is his fault, this runs so much deeper than he thought, oh shit...

“My soulmate was supposed to be my last chance” Harley snarls, his breath shaking, and Cisco doesn’t know if it’s the alcohol or the adrenaline but there is something new in Hartley’s blue eyes, something dark and _wounded,_ and it is scaring him.

“My parents despise me, we both know Caitlin and Barry still don’t trust me, and _**you** -” _he breaks off into a stuttering laugh, and the proximity is causing their bond to get stronger so Cisco can _feel_  his hurt, feel his fury and self-loathing and crushing disappointment all mixed up in a toxic cocktail in his blood, but Hartley’s not done. “You, _Cisquito_ " he hisses it like an insult, but his voice cracks, "turned out to be the one person that the universe chose for me, but I guess even whatever fucked up cosmic powers there are that decide this shit couldn’t find anyone that wanted me, so now we’re _both_ destined to be alone forever, and if I want to get drunk and write a song about it and _try_ and have a little fun, then so be it, and if you want to go back to STAR labs and have a big old laugh about it with your little friends then you can, because  ** _fuck you_** Cisco Ramon.”

He pushes away from the bar and turns to go, stool scraping across the floor with a painful screech, and Cisco realises with a sickening jolt that if he lets Hartley disappear into the crowd behind them, he’ll never get another chance to make this right.

“Hartley, wait!”

He doesn’t think twice before grabbing Hartley’s arm, and they both flinch backwards at the powerful rush of adrenaline that sparks through them at the touch, the first time they’ve touched since bonding, days ago. Hartley is glaring at Cisco as though he’s going to hit him, and although Cisco wouldn’t entirely blame him at this point, he’s got to at least get his two cents in first.

“What I said the other day, about not wanting it to be you, I didn’t... it wasn’t meant to be like that.”

Hartley scoffs. “You’re right, it wasn’t. Good _ **bye** _ Cisco” he wrenches his arm away and Cisco fights back tears of frustration. 

“I mean I didn’t mean what I said” he says in a rush, desperate, and Hartley regards him coldly... but doesn’t move away. Cisco swallows.

“I didn’t mean any of it, I was just shocked that it was you because I always thought I’d know as soon as I met the person and everyone knows we didn’t exactly get off to a good start, and I thought _you_ hated _me_ , and I didn’t know what to do and I was scared and confused and then you just  _disappeared_ and I didn’t get a chance to explain any of it but everything I’ve felt over the past few months suddenly makes sense and I just want to be with you, Hartley, I really do, because not seeing you over the past week has been so fucking hard and I know we’re a weird match but it just feels _right_ _,_ now, doesn’t it?”

Hartley just stares, and Cisco is too caught up in his own head to puzzle out the faint glimpses he’s getting of Hartley’s emotions, and for a moment he goes completely cold as he panics that he may have misstepped. 

“I... Hartley... it feels _right_ , right?” He breathes, the distance between them feeling like a thousand miles and more. Hartley hesitates, and it is the longest second of Cisco’s life. 

Then his blue eyes flicker downward and he reaches out, and slowly, so slowly, intertwines his fingers with Ciscos. A feeling of warmth spreads up Cisco’s arm from their conjoined hands, and when he looks up there is a ghost of a smile on Hartley’s lips, hesitant. He’s not forgiven Cisco, yet. But maybe he might. 

He looks up from below his lashes, and Cisco feels his heart catch. 

“Why don’t you buy me a drink, Cisquito, and we’ll see what feels ‘right’”. 

Cisco grins. 

They talk until the bar closes; Hartley fully geeks out about the music he’s kept hidden from the others for so long - “it’s called a harmonizer, and I just got a loop pedal too, and it distorts your voice and plays it back and its _so fucking cool Cisco” -_ and Cisco apologises more and more emphatically with every drink he has until Hartley rolls his eyes and pulls him in for a kiss just to shut him up. They’re all tongue and teeth, not quite in sync with each other yet but learning, learning, and Cisco feels like his heart is going to explode because how did he not see this right in front of him, how did he nearly let this go, how did he ever tell Hartley Rathaway anything other than how frustratingly, achingly brilliant he is.

Hartley falls asleep on Cisco’s shoulder in the taxi on the way home and Cisco presses an absentminded kiss to the top of his head with a small, secret smile. Hartley fucking Rathaway, of all people. The universe sure liked throwing him curveballs.

A year later to the day finds Cisco, Barry, Caitlin and Hartley at the very same bar, although only one of the newly bonded couple is actually sitting with a drink. Caitlin leans past Barry to Cisco, brushing her hair behind her ear with a look of confusion. 

“So where’s Hartley? I thought you said he’d be here tonight?” 

Cisco shoots Barry a smirk, and the Speedster returns it with a grin, bright and beaming. Cisco twirls the straw of his drink into his mouth and raises his eyebrows at Caitlin. 

“Oh, he will.”

When Hartley gets on stage Caitlin’s jaw drops much like Cisco’s had a year ago, and Cisco laughs till his sides hurt at her look of absolute shock. That is, until Hartley starts singing, and he finds himself once more unable to look away. Hartley has changed in the year that they’ve been together, and it shows in the way he performs; alive with energy, happiness rolling off him in waves. He only has eyes for one person in the room, though, and Cisco feels like his heart will burst with love when he listens to the lyrics that Hartley is singing directly to him, lyrics to the new song he’d written that he’d forbidden Cisco from hearing until tonight, until now. 

(<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqFK2XWZBYE>)

 _'Cause I don't wanna lose you now_  
_I'm lookin' right at the other half of me_  
_The vacancy that sat in my heart_  
_Is a space that now you hold_  
_Show me how to fight for now_  
_And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy_  
_Comin' back here to you once I figured it out_  
_You were right here all along_  
  
_It's like you're my mirror_  
_My mirror staring back at me_  
_I couldn't get any bigger_  
_With anyone else beside of me_  
_And now it's clear as this promise_  
_That we're making two reflections into one_  
_'Cause it's like you're my mirror_  
_My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me_

The way Hartley moves his hips on stage is downright sinful. The way Cisco makes him move them that night is worse.


End file.
